Mist Chase
by Nine Reeds
Summary: 3 Mist Ninja are on the chase, but they were too slow, dare they risk venturing out of their country? Read & Review, please. Chapter 2 soon.
1. Chapter 1

The night drew out, welcoming them again, not directly, but from the looming distance like it always did, watching over them with silent intrest. And the familiar mist crept through the bamboo forest like a prowling wolf, yet while it was slow and sublte, it enveloped everything, totally catching you off guard. If it wasn't for the special training given to ninja of the hidden village of Mist, the three nin stalking their prey through the bamboo reeds would have been lost for sure, and out in the hills surrounding the hidden ninja village the mists have been well known to last for weeks, and any visitors unlucky enough to be caught in it, and unlucky enough still to not be found by passing Mist ninja, would surely die of starvation. At the beginning the hunters had hoped to benefit from this and capture their prey with ease, but the hunted had forseen the possibility of such an event, and with the help of undercover shinobi already working in the area, had acquired a map, a map drawn by minds native to the area and with information on mist patterns and easy routes in and out of the hills, yet they would not need it much, as they are fortunate enough to be near the boundrys of the famous mist hills as it set in. Had they been deeper in this hazardous area, while they still would have been able to make it out given time, time is not what they cuttently have, the mist would have slowed them enough for the 3 Mist nin to catch up to them, and in their own territory, they would have been able to do as they please to the captured enemy.

Tracking the target had been easy for the Mist 3, the enemy, while highly skilled and exceedingly motivated, still are not used to running in such thick mists in unfimiliar grounds. The leading ninja bearing the Mist forehead protector stopped at the boundry of the bamboo woodland and glanced at the earth below him, there was a distinct mark from the tread of a ninja's shoe, someone got careless. As the chase bust out of the bamboo enclosures and mist, into the wide open fields, undoubtably overcome with relief, one of their number must have lost concentration for just a little too long. Now the Mist ninja were at a quandary. "We were too slow, what do we do now?" queried the second of the group, the black cloth covering the lower half of his face coupled with the darkness disguised his expression well, but the leading ninja could see from his eyes that he was certianly troubled by the situation. "This was not planned for," he continued, "we must return to the village for new orders." The masked ninja, along with the third female ninja looked at the leader, both were awaiting conformation to fall back, but what they recieved, they did not expect. "No, we were told to interrogate those ninja and find out what they know, we will continue the chase."

"Kaphin! They're headed to the country of fire!" He burst out, he couldn't believe the answer he got, he knew Kaphin took risks, and even if he managed to pull it off in the past, this had to be too much. "Do you realise the implications involved if we were to be caught infiltrating the Leaf village."

"Hatsu, we will not be caught," Kaphin replied with resounding confidence, "we are never caught."

"Shin, back me up here, you don't believe this do you?" Hatsu pleaded.

"If Kaphin thinks we can do it..." Shin was a very attractive female ninja to say the least, she brushed back her shoulder length hair and looked back out over the fields, embarrassed when she caught Kaphin's eye. Hatsu grimaced and conceded, he knew Kaphin was right, if they went back to the village after failing the simple task given to them they would be punished severely. "Ok, we have to complete the mission, for my entry to the Chuunin exam at least."

"No!" Shin cut in, the others looked at her in shock, she was definately not the sort of girl to have an outburst like that. And she quickly retracted back and explained herself when she realised what she'd done. "I mean, well, we've got to find out what they know for the safty of the village, and, well, all the Mist ninja." And finishing very quietly, "and Kaphin..."

"The other side of those fields is the ocean, once they get there and on a boat, we won't be able to stop them until they get to land at the country of Fire," Kaphin explained with grim realisation of the task at hand, he wasn't afraid for himself, he never feared for his personal safty, only for that of his squad, and the other Mist ninja. He may often have disagreements with Hatsu, and often cut off Shin despite her quiet need for him, but he would always die to save them, as a pure unadulterated sense of duty to the hidden village of Mist. "And at that time we'll be in hostile territory, and I don't want to hang around in the Leaf village for any longer than we have to."

Hatsu may have been oblivious to Kaphin's deeper feelings of protection for them, but at that time, somehow, Shin just managed to pick up on that supressed warmer side of Kaphin's persona.  
"Ok, let's go find a boat."

End of chapter 1.


	2. Chapter 2

The docks were wet with fresh rain from the ocean, and the 3 Mist ninja wasted no time leaping over the wire fence and sidling up to one of the many large crates littered around the expansive docks. Peering round the corner revealed a large concrete clearing well lit by a large spot light, and even at this late hour, there were still workers milling around, loading cargo for the usual busy day waiting to emerge over the horizon.

"Now what? How do we know where they are?" Said Hatsu, crouching and spinning a shuriken irritantly on one finger.  
Kaphin turned away from the clearing and pointed to a small lit up hut along the line of crates surrounding the clearing about 200 feet away, "They're either still on this island, or they've already taken a ship."

"What's that hut for?" Asked Shin.

"That's the main office, that'll have the records of all the ships coming and going," Kaphin ajusted his forehead protector and looked at the others, "I'm betting the Leaf nin didn't stop to sign out before they left, so we just have to look for any ships that are missing." Shin smiled admiringly.

"Ok then!" Exclaimed Hatsu as he holstered his shuriken, "let's go"

They flitted from shadows to shadows behind the crates, they may have been in their own country, but as far as the Leaf nin were concerned, they had got away and were no longer being chased. The Mist 3 had to make sure that they retained that element of surprise and couldn't risk anyone spreading the word that they were around.

Kaphin glanced into the open doorway at the back of the hut and saw the dock security guard sitting reading a newspaper, Shin was opposite the hut in the shadows keeping a lookout, she nodded to Kaphin who forwarded that to Hatsu who was standing on the other side of the door. Hatsu slid without a single sound into the hut, and in one swift movement with the side of his hand he hit the guard on the back of the neck. As he slumped over into unconsciousness Kaphin walked in. "This it?" Hatsu was holding out a bright red important looking folder with lots of odd bits of paper and notes in it. Kaphin took it and started flicking through the pages, "That's exactly it." He quickly identified that not only was there a boat missing, but the dock workers were kind enough to report and record it as soon as they found out."According to this, they're only half an hour ahead of us."

"Perfect, if we're going to do this, then let's grab a boat and get to the country of Fire!" Kaphin smiled, Hatsu's determination was his strong and weak point, but when he directed that determination towards a good cause, it really lifted the pace of the team.

Hatsu broke from his determined stance and looked down at the folder in Kaphin's hands, Kaphin heard it too, a quiet hissing that silently came out of nowhere. Kaphin snapped the folder closed so that the back was facing up, and in an instant his pupils dilated, his heart stopped and the world paused for breath.Hatsu looked up and opened his mouth, "Explosion note!" Before you could blink he was out of the door, and in a split second Kaphin realised that the door was too far for him now. Faster than his brain could keep up with him he threw the folder into the corner of the hut, put one foot on the desk and launched himself through the window. The thin glass easily broke as he threw his full weight and all the momentum he could muster at the window, now it felt almost like slow motion as he was falling with the broken glass all around him to the ground, but half way down everything caught up as he heard the thundering sound of the an explosion sending all the other panes of glass ripping over his head, immediately after that the flames burst out illuminating all of the docks in a bright orange glare for one fleeting moment before everything was pitched into perfect darkness.

Kaphin was lying on his front with his head to the side, at first he couldn't see anything, but as his eyes ajusted to the darkness he could make out a figure running towards him. Then, just over the ringing in his ears he could hear the crunching of the broken glass under their shoes. Shin dropped to her knees and grabbed Kaphin, "Are you ok! Oh my god!"

"Wh, what?" Kaphin pushed himself to his feet and his senses snapped back, "Ahh, I'm fine, just a little concussed."

"Leaf ninja were a little more cautious than we expected." Said Hatsu, Kaphin hadn't noticed him standing behind him, he had his hand on his kunai and was looking around, wary of an attack.

"You need to rest." Started Shin as she put her hand gently on his shoulder. He shurugged it off.

"Come on, let's find a boat."

They quickly found a small sail boat, Kaphin jumped on and staggered a little as the boat rocked in the water. He told himself it was the darkness that tricked him making the boat look heavier, but really he just still hadn't totally recovered from the blast. He sat down at the front of the boat and cut the mooring with his kunai, he wasn't in the mood for such annoyances. Hatsu jumped in at the back and took hold of the rudder, and Shin jumped into the middle and let down the sail, she looked like she was doing, which was good enough, as long as they could get there everything else was good enough. Kaphin looked over at Hatsu as he finished untying the moorings and pushed off. The boat rocked gently in the calm waters as they drifted out, the cool breese and soft lapping of water against the side of the boat relaxed him a little. 'I sure hope there aren't any explosive notes underneath this boat.' He thought to himself, and only then did he realise that there was a security guard in that hut.

He drifted off to sleep as the boat silently pushed through the fog and the docks disappeared into the haze.

End of chapter 2.


End file.
